Vice President Hamid Ansari's wife Salma says she has a "problem" with the Women's Reservation Bill and feels that it will not be of much help unless awareness is created among women at the grassroot level.
"I have a problem with this bill. The government comes up with a lot of schemes and many projects but how many women are able to take advantage of these," she told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Agra on Monday.
Unless awareness is created among women at the grassroots and they are educated, such legislations will not be of much help, Salma said.
"Till the time they are not educated, unless they understand that they have to take care of their lives themselves, no matter how many such bills are passed, there will be no benefit to the grassroot-level women," she said.
After hanging fire for over a decade due to lack of political consensus, the bill providing for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and assemblies was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9.
The bill generated much controversy and opposition from parties like Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal, which that said the measure is unacceptable in its present form and pushed hard for amendments for a 'quota within quota' for the Other Backward Class, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes and Muslims.
The bill was adopted in Rajya Sabha only after unruly members opposing the measure were marshalled out.
Incidentally, when the bill was moved in Rajya Sabha on March 8, its Chairman Ansari was at the receiving end of misbehaviour by several MPs opposing the measure who tried to attack him by attempting to climb on to the podium.
The bill yet to be passed by Lok Sabha.
